Printer for your Study Room

URL: http://asia.cnet.com/digital-home/study-room/printer.htm

How to choose a printer

Choosing a printer these days can be very confusing. There are so many different types of inkboxes out there, from photo inkjets and color lasers to portable inkboxes and dye-sublimation devices, not to mention multifunctional printers for both inkjets and lasers, as well as higher-end inkjet models for professional graphics users.

Then there's also the whole issue of consumable cost. This is almost like buying a car where you'll need to fuel up your printer regularly to keep it going. The cost of ownership of a printer doesn't end with the purchase. More often than not, the cost of the ink refill (or the replacement toner cartridge) and print media play a huge part in the decision-making process when buying a printer.

So which printer is for you? Fortunately, as with other tech purchases, getting the right printer is all about knowing the features that matter most.

Your printing requirements

Different printing technologies cater to different needs and budgets. For instance, inkjet printers are generally used for printing high-quality color prints, while laser printers are commonly found in offices or homes for volume printing.

Printer types:
To find out what printer type best suits your needs, you will need to understand the pros and cons of each printing technology. Here's a quick breakdown.

Inkjet:
Inkjets remain one of the most popular types of printers among consumers today. Its key advantage lies in its relatively low printer price, ability to handle text documents and high-quality photo printouts, which make it appealing for use in most homes and small offices.

Inkjet printers are available in various sizes and categories. There's the regular inkjet printer which pretty much handles photos and text documents fairly well. Some inkjets are specially optimized for photos and utilize inks and paper media that are more resistant to fading. These are also known as photo inkjets and are used mainly by graphics professionals and digital photographers. There are also portable inkjet printers but these are available in selected models and are typically designed for business use or printing photos.

Laser:
Laser printers are predominantly found in the office and home office environments where high-quality document prints are needed fast and at a low cost per page. However, with printer prices, especially that of color lasers, becoming a lot more affordable in the last few years, the role of laser printers has now expanded to color prints as well.

There are two main types of laser printers in the market today. Personal lasers, which are the smaller of two, cater to individuals who make monochrome prints regularly. Workgroup lasers, on the other hand, are bulky machines designed for high-volume prints in a multi-user environment such as the office.

Dye sublimation:
Dye-sublimation printers are known to produce photo prints that are comparable in quality to commercial prints. The addition of a protective clear coating to the paper also makes it more water-resistant than inkjet prints. Most of the dye-sublimation printers available today are designed to print photos up to 4R in size, and highly portable for on-the-go use.

All-in-One:
In recent years, All-In-One (AIO) or multifunction inkjet printers which can print, scan, copy and sometimes fax have become a popular choice among home users for their multitasking versatility. Generally All-In-Ones tend to be bulky and can take up a good chunk of your desk space. Other tradeoffs are that if one component breaks down, you may have to send the whole machine in for repair and lose the use of the other features in the meantime. However, it's hard to beat an All-In-One for its convenience and integration.

Key specs that matter:
Sometimes, it pays to know a little more about your printer specifications. We list down the ones that matter most.

• Resolution and ink droplet size: They used to be important features to look out for when buying an inkjet printer. Printers with the highest resolution and smallest ink droplet size are usually perceived to produce the best photo prints. But these days, with so many inkjets capable of printing at 4,800 x 1,200dpi resolution and 4-picoliter ink droplet size, it is no longer relevant to use them for print quality comparison. (dpi or dots per inch is the measure of print resolution, while picoliter is the standard measurement for ink droplet size).

  The best way to determine the print quality of an inkjet is to look at the sample prints which are usually available at the stores. Most laser printers offer between 600 x 600dpi and 1,200 x 1,200dpi resolution.

• Print speed: Print speeds are usually measured in pages per minute (ppm), though some manufacturers do break down the numbers to indicate the time taken for a specific size print. Unfortunately, the print speed ratings should not be taken at face value as they are numbers measured under test conditions. Real-world printing speeds are usually slower.
• Connectivity: Most printers nowadays, be it laser, inkjet or dye-sublimation, connect to the PC via the USB port. Workgroup-type inkjet and laser printers additionally come with Ethernet or wireless LAN as well as built-in print servers for network connectivity. Bluetooth and infrared are used for wireless printing, but they are found only on selected printer models. Many inkboxes also feature PictBridge, which allows users to connect directly to PictBridge-enabled cameras for direct photo printing.
• Extra features: Nowadays, printer makers have incorporated some rather nifty features in their products, such as an adapter for direct printing on DVD/CD media, duplex printing (printing on both sides of the paper) as well as automatic document feeders. To enable standalone printing of photos, printers are now also equipped with onboard LCD displays and built-in memory card readers.

Cost vs. consumables vs. budget

Today, a basic no-frills printer can be had for under S$100. However, when buying printers, it is important to take into consideration the price of the ink refills (or replacement toner cartridges for lasers) as well as the paper media. If the printer is cheap but the consumables are relatively more expensive, your cost per print will be higher. In the long run, you are actually paying more out of your pocket. In some cases, the cost of a set of ink refills can be as much as the printer itself.

If you plan to print lots of photos, look out for inkjet printers with separate ink tanks for each color. This can usually be found in higher-end photo-centric models and are often considered more economical for heavy users as you will need to replace only the color that has run out. Some inkjets also offer higher-capacity versions of their ink cartridges which usually give better cost per print.

As appealing as third-party consumables may seem in terms of price, they may not produce the same print quality and reliability as the original refills. In some rare cases, they may even cause damage to the printer, which will void the manufacturer's warranty. Toner cartridges for laser printers are generally more expensive than inkjet cartridges. However, laser printers can print a lot more pages than inkjets before needing a replacement, making the former more attractive in terms of cost per print.

Dye-sublimation printers can output a specific number of photos with each ribbon/paper refill, so the cost per print is pretty much fixed. For this reason, it is sometimes preferred over inkjets as the cost of printing can be easily calculated.